9009 Carothers - Crescent Resources

Little's DC and Charlotte offices are teaming up to assist Crescent in developing conceptual master plan and architectural solutions for Crescent's 9009 Carothers site in Nashville, TN. Crescent's intent is to create marketing materials in pursuit of development showcasing their committment to sustainability integrated with a high quality, and customer focused design approach. Eddie, Bo, and Rugel collaborated on assisting Crescent with their efforts. Our concept focuses on creating a series of green public spaces that thread through the site and help to organize and connect the existing buildings with the new. Visitors and employees park their vehicles and traverse these landscaped outdoor rooms on their way to work. Carefully designed and allocated covered walkway canopies will provide shelter during inclement weather so as to contribute to to design of the parks and plazas. The architectural facades will be articulated to maximize solar orientation and visual connectivity to the green public spaces. For the 10 story office building option we would also consider a green roof as part of the sustainable design approach.

Singapore - eVolo '08 Architectural Competition

Ted Givens and Rugel Chiriboga from the Durham and DC offices submitted the above entry boards in the Evolo '08 - Skyscraper Architectural Competition this week. 'eVolo is an international organization dedicated to the development of new architectural ideas. It is a forum of discussion towards excellence in design for the XXI Century.' eVolo

As part of our on-going research and emphasize in a holistic approach to design that incorporates sustainable design strategies into all of our projects, we teamed up to pursue the exploration of sustainable ideas in high rise mixed use residential design.

Our theoretical project is based in Jurong East, Singapore. The site benifits from its adjacency to a mass transit line station and beautiful natural lake amenity. It is located between the Chinese garden and a heavy industrial district. Culture, sustainability, and innovation particular to climatic influences in the region were primary drivers for our concept development. We gained inspiration from the Wah Kim orchid, the national flower that pulls water directly from the air. There is inherent beauty in its form, and efficiency in the manner by which the orchid draws sustenance from its environment. This flower became a wonderful source of inspiration in continuing to develop a sustainable strategy for our mixed-use hotel and residential towers.

Our intent is to marry site specific sustainablity strategies with a new interpretation of the vibrant clutter found in the traditional Malay village, and the streamlined efficency of modern Singapore. We seek an organic expression that will provide a stark contrast to the existing architectural landscape. Our heavy use of gardens both in the landscape and in the towers provides a point of departure in a sea of brutalist housing blocks adjacent to our site.

The sustainability strategy for the towers is locally referential and provides for an environmentally inspired cooling and ventilation approach. The tower placements capitalize on the prevailing north winds to provide thru ventilation into the bldg.. The roofs of the modular pod units for the residences utilize a water-reclamation system to capture rainwater, purify it, and use it for cooling and gray water use. Energy for the system is generated by the bldg. integratede photovoltaic cells in the double skin glass facade on the west Facade. Some of the pods have a green roof to assist with cooling and terraces for the residents use. The configuration of the pods also provide shading for the south facades and create dynamic exterior and interior sky gardens capitalizing on climatic influences.

Our intent in to continue to develop these ideas with continuing research and turn this into a viable, real project.

These are additional images:

Phipps Tower - Atlanta, Georgia

The renderings at the top depict the final configuration of the Phipps Tower project in Buckhead, Atlanta, Georgia.

DESCRIPTION

Context:

Phipps Tower establishes itself as a premier address in the Buckhead Community, one of the most prestigious locactions in the the Southeast.
The project is prominently situated at the intersection of Lenox Road and Phipps Boulevard. Rising gracefully adjacent to Phipps Plaza Mall, this twenty four story, glass tower presents timeless proportions and infuses a contemporary edge in its simplicity and sophisticated elegance. At the south facing main entrance plaza, guests and tenants alike are invited to gather for events, and socials, or engage in the wonderful public garden for respite. This public green space becomes a focal point in the vicinity receiving pedestrian activity from the neighboring business, hospitality, and retail venues. The front facade glass lobby blurs the line between inside and out as softly curving marble walls frame the lobby and introduce all to the prominent business address in Buckhead.

Building:

The Phipps Tower project has been registered with the U.S. Green Building Council seeking LEED Certification. The building will be industry recognized for utilizing energy conservation and sustainable design strategies that include:

· High performance, energy efficient insulated glazing coupled with the long facades oriented facing north and south to maximize the benefits of natural daylight.
· Energy efficient building M.E.P. systems minimizing utility consumption.
· Utilization of Green Power.
· Sustainable Sites practices.
· Water efficient landscaping.
· Construcation waste management.
· Indoor environmental quality control
· Energy and Atmosphere – Measurement & Verification , Base building.

RENTABLE SQUARE FEET 475,000 rentable square feet.

AVERAGE FLOOR SIZE 25,000 rentable square feet.

EXTERIOR SKIN

Custom curtainwall with 1” high performance insulated glazing accented at the main entry with stone and aluminum columns

INTERIOR LOBBY

Polished “Crema Marfil” marble floors and walls accented by stainless steel bands frame Etimoe, quartered sliced millwork panels. The elevator portals are carved out of the millwork panels and utilize stainless steel and marble to create a strong sense of entry.

The project site contruction has broken ground this month. Project is scheduled to complete construction in 2009.

Founder Credit Union (Additional images)

This project merited the posting of additional information shedding a little more background on Little's process to get to this point.

Founders Credit Union presented us with a great opportunity to capitalize on a primary goal of our Design Methodology, that is to implement a multidisciplinary approach to practice from inception of the project development process. Our team emphasized a holistic approach to design incorporating sustainable design strategies that very much depended on the expertise and full collaboration of our client, and all of our members representing, Architecture, Land Development, Interior, and Engineering.

This presentation is part of Little's package put together to solicit client approval and sign-off of our Visioning phase. It will provide a strong foundation for our project development as we proceed.